A delightful set of three Christmas carols expertly adapted by Philip Doe. This suite of three pieces opens with Christmas Day, a dainty and light opening that shows the more delicate aspects of brass playing. The centre piece is a new version of The Coventry Carol, which open with a first verse rendition for quartet before developing a more baroque-style treatment that sits over an ostinato bass line. The movement reaches its climax with flourishes from the cornets leading to a rendition of the carol at fortissimo, and treated with slightly altered, harmonies before coming to rest with the opening quartet delivering the tierce de Picardie. The final movement is I Saw Three Ships, with handy interjections from several other carols, making a rousing climax to a enjoyable set of three Christmas portraits.

In 1270 Edward I survived a shipwreck and, to give thanks for his deliverance, ordered the building of a great abbey of dimensions to rival any in the land and bequeathed funds to the Order of Cistercian monks to build and run the abbey. The location chosen was on the banks of the river Weaver close to the hometown of the?composer's mother in Cheshire. Huge funds were put in to the project over many decades and although the foundations were laid for the great pillars to support the building (still visible to this day), the abbey was built only to a fraction of its original design. Instead the funds were pilfered and misappropriated to fund the opulent lifestyle of the profligate monks who were roundly despised and reviled in the county (merry gentlemen indeed!). In 1543, Henry VIII set about the dissolution of the abbey and the destruction of its building to wide acclaim and much rejoicing in the county. This piece tells that story. Item Code: TPBB-067 Duration: 5'00" Other Christmas works by Philip Doe: TPBB-054 Three Christmas Portraits ?

The Bells of Peover is a beautiful and lyrical cornet solo, conjuring up a pastoral scene with the distant ringing of church bells. The piece is named after a pub in the Cheshire village of Lower Peover, near Knutsford.